The decision to consume wine has been associated with variables such as product involvement, variety seeking, demographic characteristics, experience, and sources of information. The purpose of this study was to examine the decision process for wine selection in different situations. Data were collected from a sample of wine consumers in Texas and a total of 632 completed responses were obtained. The questionnaire was designed to determine consumer experience, knowledge, and use of differential sources of information to make a purchase decision on wine purchased in a store for home consumption and wine purchased in a restaurant. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that usage experience forms the basis for subjective and objective knowledge. High levels of objective knowledge are related to using impersonal sources of information (wine guides, reviews, and advertising) to make purchasing decisions. An additional finding was that high levels of subjective knowledge are positively related to impersonal sources and the self (one's own preferences) and negatively related to using personal sources (friends, acquaintances, and sales personnel). These results and their implications for wine marketers are discussed.

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Solomon (1983) proposed that products, as social stimuli, influence reflected appraisals. Appraisals, in turn, influence self-definition. Kleine, Kleine, and Kernan (1993, study 2) empirically supported Solomon's hypothesis. Appraisals were found to completely mediate the relationship between possessions and self-definition. Appraisals are thus an essential link between possession sets and individuals' selfdefinitions. The current study extends the Kleine et al. (1993) model in two important ways. First, we combined insights from identity theory, appraisal theory, and the sociology of emotions literatures to offer a more precise and comprehensive conceptualization of the appraisal process that includes both cognitive and emotional components. The conceptualization distinguishes appraisals of possessions from appraisals of performance and reflected versus self-appraisals. Second, symbolic interactionist theory suggests that social interactions and media are social communication discourses that, like possessions, influence self-definitions via appraisals. The extended model incorporates these possibilities. Data collected from individuals with an identity based on one of two freely chosen athletic activities provides encouraging support for the extended model. The result pattern provides insights into how appraisals mediate the relationship between social communication discourses and self-definition. K leine, Kleine, and Kernan (1993) proposed and tested a model based on symbolic interactionist identity theory that pinpoints self-definition as the organizing construct through which ordinary consumption activities can be un-

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